Get into the spirit of the season with creepy, overly capitalistic Christmas commercials from the 1980s. “Taste all the ways butter helps your holidays throughout the year!” [YouTube]

On the history of classical Roman torture in Hollywood film. [The Awl]

Adrian Chen follows Swedish journalist Robert Aschberg, whose TV show Troll Hunter confronts Internet trolls IRL. The point, according to Aschberg: “The agenda is to raise hell about all the hate on the Net.” [Technology Review]

Good news for the ICA: Political activist Barbara Lee has gifted the museum with over 40 artworks, many by female, international, and politically active artists. [Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston]

Mo’ money for the Indianapolis Museum of Art, which has decided to start charging admission. [Hyperallergic]

A little history lesson on the Shanghai art scene in the 1980s: “[a]rt from the end of the Cultural Revolution through to the mid-1990s was insufficiently modern, fashionable, and avant-garde, and was at best expressing rebellion against a restrictive social environment.” [LEAP]

David Carr goes on WBUR to discuss the massive blow visited upon American freedom because, following terrorist threats, movie theaters unanimously decided not to show The Interview. Barely mentioned is the fact that trailers present the film as a buddy movie about a dictator who is STARVING PEOPLE, sending them to labor camps, and killing all who try to escape. Or the fact that this was not a case of government censorship but decisions made by private theaters who chose not to sell this product. But we as a nation suffer, because our comedies have been jeopardized. If the premise weren’t so ignorant, I’d put it on par with hate speech. We are a nation of assholes. [WBUR]

Jerry Saltz complains about not getting paid. This, from the man who just weeks ago, told artists to “[g]row up. Stop feeling deprived. You will never have enough money. You will never get enough love.” [Twitter]

A history of the candy cane reveals that they are not a “J” for Jesus, but the result of a fortuitous manufacturing malfunction. [The Smithsonian, via Metafilter]

Artists are not always a cheery bunch. Yinka Shonibare’s card for the Guardian’s artist-Christmas card commission reads: “As we’re opening our Christmas presents and eating our Christmas dinner, spare a thought for the less fortunate people. As the popular song goes: Thank God it’s them instead of you. Do they know it’s Christmas time?” (Above, Elmgreen and Dragset’s Christmas contribution.) [The Guardian]

Washington, D.C. entrepreneur and lifelong art collector Dani Levinas is garnering support for his plan to transform a former schoolhouse into the city’s first “kunsthalle.” [Washington Post]

Jailed Pussy Riot members might be released as early as Thursday. [The Guardian]

I’ve been wanting to play Back to Bed, a Surrealist-inspired video game, for some time, but the release date has been pushed back until after Christmas. When I say “Surrealist,” I mean it: This puzzle-solving world is rife with Magritte-like apples and de Chirico-like corridors. [Polygon]

The New York Court of Appeals reversed a decision that would have made public the names of buyers at auction. As has been standard, buyers can remain anonymous. [The New York Times]

Soon, the world will see a 13th Gagosian: The Westminster City Council approved plans to create a “double height commercial art gallery.” The interior space will be huge, topping over 6, 500 square feet, with interiors outfitted by the team responsible for refurbishing the Tate Britain’s interiors. It surely seems like the Gagosian industry will be sticking around for some time; the dealer signed a 20-year-lease on the property. [Grosvenor]

“It’s really a gay program, is what it is.” Art advisor Thea Westrich gives some surprising descriptions of galleries she likes at ABMB, like Matthew Marks. [T Magazine]

A good samaritan has offered the Detroit Institute of Arts $5 million to protect the museum’s collection. This is nothing to help cover the city’s $18 billion in municipal debt. [AP]

Christie’s just released the monetary evaluation of DIA’s collection; its “fair-market value” falls between $452 million and $866 million. $450 million is the amount of aid the U.S. sent to Egypt in 2012, the settlement amount of Mel Gibson’s divorce, and the upfront cost of getting a gold mine up and running. [Detroit Free Press]

Here’s a Christmas tiding to warm the heart: unemployment is down to 7 percent !!!!!!!!!!!!!! If that’s an accurate number, then it means we’re on our way to economic stability. Felix Salmon gives a tentative thumbs up. [Reuters]

Expensive paintings don’t make for better paintings; but it is good to know that collectors can sometimes feel okay about buying work by female artists. A large painting by the late Joan Mitchell reached a hammer price of 3.1 million Euro at the Sotheby’s Contemporary Sale in Paris. [Baer Faxt]

It is not okay for a female CEO to call her underlings employees “Penis.” Not even “Mr. Penis,” mind you—just “Penis” for a first name. How rude. [Daily News]

Our Color Wheel series is relevant as ever. Pantone has announced its “color of the year.” It’s purple. [Paris Review]

Noah Gallagher from Oasis sounds like an idiot and an asshole. In an interview with Rolling Stone he whines about prettymuch everything and slams Arcade Fire for coming out with a double album he’s never heard. “Who has the fucking time, in 2013, to sit through 45 minutes of a single album? How arrogant are these people to think that you’ve got an hour and a half to listen to a fucking record?” What’s the point of anything? Why bother making music, or art, or literature? [Rolling Stone]

Art Fag City will be posting lightly this week due to the holidays. I want to personally wish all of our readers a wonderful week with their loved ones. Hopefully you all can fit in a good party or two as well. That means eat some sparkle, drink some bubbles and unwind. For those who are around this week, we’ve got a few holiday images to share. For those who are away, we’ll see you in the New Year.

I’m feeling a bit of nostalgia for the Johnson family farm this season since I won’t be making my normal trip up to Canada this year. (My parents are in New Zealand for the holidays). It’s not often they receive a dusting of snow like this just before Christmas, but in 2007 I spent a good deal of time marveling at the like. Now when I look at the photographs I am struck by how little they capture of the trip. The snow was more sparkly, the landscape more awe inspiring, and my family more jovial. I’m not great with a camera, but also, its limitations are clear; it rarely represents duration of experience well.

There have been times when I would have found this frustrating, but today that imperfection makes those memories feel a little more distinct. Sometimes it’s nice to have experiences that are best shared in person. That won’t stop me from taking pictures today and tomorrow, but I probably won’t go crazy. And so, my wish to all AFC readers maps to my own desires; that our memories be a little less perfect and a little more special.